The Media Disseminates Information During Health Care Or Threats

It is crucial to effectively communicate in a timely manner with the public during a crisis or emergency situation. It is important not only to inform the public about the crisis but also for government officials to learn how the crisis is affecting the public, and what they understand and believe about the situation so that the government can assess the big picture and clear up misconceptions the public has and assuage their fears. Since the information must be gathered quickly in emergencies short-duration surveys are used. Such short-duration surveys were conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health during the bioterrorism threat to the American public in 2001. They conducted their surveys with the cooperation of the Centers for Disease Control, but the CDC did not sponsor the survey. Most of these surveys during crisis situations are conducted by media and not government.

The risk in using short-duration surveys is that response rates have been declining over the last few decades. Therefore, there could be a non-response bias where respondents to the survey do not represent population, or lack of recency, where due to emergency situation views and opinions change quickly so the results are not an accurate reflection of current views. Short-duration surveys are statistically re-weighted to reduce non-response bias. Studies have suggested re-weighting and surveying over a 5-day period produced similar results to longer-duration surveys. However, re-weighting may not work as well in cases where evacuation has occurred which affects which respondents are reached.

Public opinion polls during a crisis, such as the bioterrorism threat, provide information about what confidence the public has in government, who they trust, what precautions they are taking, such as during anthrax threat use of gas masks and/or gloves, public knowledge about emergency, how they feel about possible vaccinations, their views about discrimination, which could cause minorities not to seek help. By learning the misconceptions the public has quickly, the government can respond to correct misconceptions and educate public to help them survive a disaster.

Millions of Americans use the Internet to learn and understand about health and diseases. With the Internet being such a crucial source, the data needs to be correct. NCI Cancer Information Service (CIS) developed HINTS to assure that the health information on the web was not only accurate, but could help eliminate cancer. HINTS has two stages: awareness and information-seeking that the reader encounters. HINTS has two purposes: health communication and behavior change. It was created to help researchers, the pubic, and to create change and find a solution to cancer.

I can relate to this poll because I use Web MD frequently. Whenever someone I know or myself has a health question, Web MD is the most convenient source to access. It gives a plethora of information, which is helpful and easy to understand. I automatically trust the cite to give me accurate information, which is why I’m glad to find out HINTS and CIS undergo procedures to reassure me that the Internet is giving me the correct information when dealing with health care.

The Gallup poll of May 2009 about precautionary steps for swine flu, is one example of how people trust the media to give them accurate information when dealing with healthcare or threats. This poll warned the public when it was safe to go out and when they should stay in, in order to not expose themselves to others. The public trusted the media, so that they were not isolating themselves for nothing.